Media attention, female directors and corporate greenwashing: evidence from China

This study investigates how female directors and media attention affect corporate greenwashing, using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2023. The empirical results demonstrate that female directors’ ethical awareness and media oversight work together to effectively constrain corporate misconduct, and this combined effect becomes significantly stronger when female board representation exceeds 30% and media attention reaches the industry average. Further analysis suggests that female directors curb greenwashing by alleviating corporate financial constraints, mitigating CEO overconfidence bias, and enhancing executive environmental cognition. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the greenwashing-mitigating effect becomes more pronounced under four specific conditions, including state-owned enterprises, firms with larger workforce sizes, industries characterized by intense market competition, and regions maintaining stringent environmental regulations. These findings contribute to gender diversity literature by elucidating the environmental governance premium of female leadership, while providing empirical evidence for optimizing ESG disclosure regulatory frameworks in emerging markets.